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Oculus Quest: it’s probably the future of Mobile VR

The future of virtual reality is finally here. Oculus family’s latest member Oculus Quest is finally ready to release in “Spring 2019”. Oculus Quest gives a new world for virtual reality where no wire or walls can constrain or restrict the experience.

In Oculus Connect developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Oculus Quest would be available starting in North America in “Spring 2019” (so March-April next year). Zuckerberg said, “This is the all-in-one VR experience we’ve all been waiting for.”

The Quest is one of the best-looking so far out of all the VR headsets out there. The device is all smooth, rounded corners with a thick, yet comfortable set of head straps.

This $399 headset includes a pair of Touch controllers which are a mix of glossy and matte plastics. This touch controller offers head tracking closer to the Oculus Rift than cheap mobile headsets. Unlike the Oculus Go that came just before it, the Quest headset offers six degrees of freedom tracking. This allows you to walk around anywhere without a wire holding you back.

Because of no wires, using Oculus Quest is so freeing by comparing to Oculus Rift. Quest doesn’t need base stations to track; the tracking is inside-out, using sensors built into the headset. You can scan your room and it’ll warn you when you’re close to bumping into a wall or a table.

As a standalone system, Oculus Quest comes with 64GB onboard storage. Oculus Quest is shipping with three games: Moss (11.7GB), Robo Recall (9.3GB) and The Climb (10.9GB). So, maybe you have to start deleting things after some day of uses.

Oculus Quest runs on Android. It is using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. Mobile SoCs are improving by leaps and bounds every year. That is why Quest is the future focus of Oculus’s VR efforts. Oculus Quest has higher-end OLED display at 1600×1440 pixels per eye. Six degrees of freedom tracking puts this ahead of other mobile VR. Wireless experience makes it better than PC headsets.

While it is launching in Spring 2019, Oculus Quest is coming with 50 Game titles. Some of them include Star Wars’ Vader Immortal, Superhot VR, Stormland, Moss and many more. This all games are optimized for standalone VR. All these titles will use revamped versions of the Oculus Touch controller that will be tracked by four ultra-wide sensors on the side of the headset.

You can charge this headset with USB Type-C port. Currently, the battery life of the headset is unknown. Headband strap outputs all sounds. All processes take place inside the headset and it doesn’t need anything connected to it.

According to Oculus’ Hugo Barra, the Quest can track up to 4,000 square feet. This is a massive difference in distance to compared to what we’ve seen on wired headsets so far. That should give you enough room to map out the entirety of your backyard or a small field at your local park. Oculus Quest uses four ultra-wide sensors located along the outer edges of the headset to track controllers. This sensor allows the headset to track where your hands are, even if it loses sight of them for a few seconds.

Oculus Quest shares same resolution as Oculus Go – that is 1600×1440 pixels per eye. There is also a focal slider which can be used to adjust the focal length. You can shift focal distance which is very comfortable for glass wearers.

There is also a volume rocker located under the front of the headset. Audio comes out through head straps near the ears. Still, if you want, you can use the better audio solution as they have provided a standard 3.5mm auxiliary jack located on either side of the headset.

In this VR, straps are made of stretchable rubber material. So, it is more comfortable as in Oculus Rift, straps are made of rigid plastic.

Games Library:

There will be 50 Games listed for Quest when it’ll launch. Oculus has confirmed Quest ports for Superhot VR, The Climb, The Unspoken, Dead and Buried, Robo Recall, Face Your Fears 2 and Stormlands. This all games will be optimized for a mobile processor. Oculus can also announce special games made for Quest. After testing some games, it shows Quest is good VR headset to handle above games.

Oculus Quest gives an excellent VR experience. It’s easy and comfortable wearing on the head and you can roam around because there are no wires!! It also provides good sounds and graphics. All of this adds up to a freedom that is really liberating and you’ll feel like you can run across a court and smack a tennis ball, or wander around outside a haunted house, or walk down a twisty hallway!!!